Germany

Germany has adopted a seemingly contradictory set of policies in its effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and increase energy security. While it has greatly emphasized renewable energy, the government remains committed to a phase-out of nuclear power and to the construction of new gas pipelines from Russia.

A new study shows that Germany has already reduced greenhouse gas emissions to the level pledged in the Kyoto Protocol. But a greater reliance on coal-fired power plants may soon reverse the trend.

When it comes to global warming and concurrent efforts to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases, Germany has always tried to present itself as a leader. New data set to be released on Friday shows that the country has earned its bragging rights.

1&1 Internet - one of the world's largest web hosts - will build its next European data center inside an abandoned nuclear fuel facility.

Built in the late 1980s, Hanau, Germany's 'New MOX' plant was supposed to process fuel for nuclear reactors, making mixed oxide rods from enriched Uranium and Plutonium. But thanks to local protests, it was never turned on, and in 1995, it was abandoned by owner Siemens AG. Then, more than a decade later, after it escaped from nuclear control legislation, 1&1 came calling.

FRANKFURT, Germany, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- A German politician has called for shutting down seven nuclear power plants because they are not safe from a terrorist attack.

Hermann Scheer of the Social Democratic Party said Germany's seven oldest nuclear power plants should be shut down because their outer shells wouldn't protect the nuclear core against targeted terrorist attacks using kidnapped passenger planes.